A Wish For One More Sunrise
by Lady of Life and Death
Summary: Exondria Exodius is a 16 year old vampire during the slavery of lychans. Unlike the other vamps, she's a lychan sympathizer. What happens when your against all that you live with or worse: you may like one of the slaves? Ch. 5 up!
1. Chapter 1: My Beginning

Mmmmkay people! This is based of a role play game found on called The Dark Underground based off the movies Underworld and Underworld: Evolution. This is the point of view of the story written and being written by Diva'sDream. This is for the character Exondria who is a vampire and is set before the Rebellion of zeh slaves.

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_I was ten years old. Ten years old and forced into darkness forever. I wasn't supposed to be bitten and then turned. I was supposed to just be a vampires evening meal. I guess my few, but horrible memories were too much for him to bear if he killed me. You see, when a vampire bites and drinks your blood, the vampire receives said victim's memories. I on the other hand, received pity and a chance at a life I hated above all else. Perhaps, I should start at the very beginning. Back when I, Exondria Exodius, became a vampire and was taken to my home ruled by the Elder Vampire Servina._

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I scampered down the ally-way, intending to throw my father off my course. I couldn't let him find me, less I got beaten severely enough that I would die. I knew this time I'd gone too far: I told my father to stop hurting me. I held my breath even though I desperately needed to breath. He ran past me, shouting rude things and threatening to stab me repeatedly if I didn't come out. He sped around a street corner in the city, and disappeared.

I exhaled and inhaled loud and sharply. I gasped and coughed, falling to my knees and started sobbing. I couldn't go back home, even if I wanted it. I was doomed to wonder around for the rest of my life it seemed. I lifted my dirty, tear-streaked face and looked around. The ally was just as dirt and grime smeared as my under-nourished and filthy body, not to mention my obviously-too-big clothes. I squeezed my patchwork teddy bear, Mr. Snuggles (made by yours truly), to my chest and cuddled him close. I was scarred out of my mind. I stuffed my face into him, my super long, untrimmed and filthy blonde hair (it fell to about my ankles), surrounded me in a blanket of warmth.

A shadow loomed over me and I sat up straight as a pin. The figure picked me up and stared straight into my eyes, his crystal blue irises boring into me and freezing the scream in my throat. As if I were suddenly in fog, my eyes clouded over and two sharp pains stung my neck. Memories from my previous ten years flashed before my mind's eye, making tears well up then… darkness consumed my body.

I sniffed… Was that blood dripping in my mouth…?

It tasted good… very good…

My body felt icy and throbbed with pain… I think I started screaming….

Someone held me close…

My eyes snapped open. I looked up groggily and saw the same man from the ally. He was stroking my dirty hair and smiled at me.

"Hello little one," he said softly, a gentle English accent softening it all the more. "Welcome to your new life." He wore a handsome black suit, tailored to perfection. I couldn't make out his face, only his glowing blue eyes. I widened my own and sniffed the air. Everything was… sharper! I could see better, smell new scents I didn't ever know existed, hear the rustling of a rat from across the street and I was utterly confused. My head throbbed and the fog took me over again. He pressed something against my mouth.

Realizing it was a cup of something warm, I gulped it down, my senses sharpening all the more. I stopped, gasping for air again, and looked back at my seemingly savior.

"What… happened?" I asked meekly. He smiled, his canines poking out longer and more menacing than I think he intended. He stood up, putting me on his shoulder, and walked down the street as if I were his own child. I was so confused at this point, I just went with it. Besides, the new level my senses reached was enough to distract me for a long time.

After awhile, my eyes started to droop. I guess I swayed a bit because I suddenly found myself being carried effortlessly by the strange man. "Sleep, little one," he said softly and I did as I was told. For once, my dreams were simple and easy. Nothing frightening came after me or tried to hurt me.

A gentle shake brought my body back to consciousness. I looked around still sleepy from before and realized he'd stopped in front of a gate. Behind it, I could see a great mansion, bigger than any one building, besides offices and shivered at its magnificence. Two men opened the gates and let my carrier and myself through. He put me down gently and held out his hand. Squeezing Mr. Snuggles to my chest with one and taking his much larger hand with my small one, I followed after.

Many people were running around, apparently doing chores. I stared at some who looked in no better shape than me. They only looked back with the same blank expression I'd adopted, only to have it crack in confusion. They all smelled sharply of wolves.

The gentle men stopped at the doorway as a woman stepped out. I hid behind his legs and held Mr. Snuggles in front of my face. I can't remember all of what they said, but apparently the woman wasn't happy.

"She's a _child_!" she shrieked. "No one's going to know how to take care of her!"

And for the first time I heard him raise his voice. "You'd rather he die the second the sun hits her skin?!" I blinked. What were they talking about? She sighed and asked him to show me to her. I stepped out cautiously, shivering from fear.

"My god!" she gasped. "She looks like one of the filthy lychans!" I cringed. I always got scolded by my teachers and laughed at by the other children for the way I looked and dressed. The man shook his head.

"What's worse are the child's memories," he spoke softly, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. I smiled softly for the first time and the woman glared at him in turn.

"You want me to take care of her don't you?" she accused. He nodded and stared back at her. She sighed and looked back at me. "Well girl, what is your name?" I held Mr. Snuggles so tightly, I felt I would've popped off his head.

"M-my name is Exondria Ellen Exodius," I said nervously. She raised her eyebrow and looked me up and down.

"Quite a name you've got for such a… an appearance," she stated. I looked down and remained silent. She kneeled down and lifted my chin. "You aren't a low-life anymore. You look down only to the leaders of the covens from now on understand?" I nodded and she stood back up. She called for one of the people to come and get me and take me upstairs. For the first time in a few months, I was bathed and cleaned. They were so kind to me, asking me if I needed anything and helping to wash my hair.

They brought me a simple black dress and pulled it over my head. Tying my hair back in a black ribbon, the nice woman who smelled strongly of a maternal wolf who cooed over her child with adoration took me by the hand and led me back to the woman standing in the front room. A few people relaxed at the tables and all of them stared at me. I cowered behind the woman holding my hand, hugging the newly cleaned Mr. Snuggles. The first one turned to look at me.

"We were able to find a nice dress to put her in and got rid of the rags she wore coming in Mistress," the kind lady said. "Do you want me to prepare a room for her?" The woman nodded sharply and held out her hand for me to step forward.

"Exondria," she began, "do you know what has happened?" I shook my head. "You've been… turned as we call it into a Vampire." My eyes widened. "You've probably noticed the change in your senses." I nodded completely confused.

"Miss, is everyone here vampires?" I asked. She grinned, teeth poking out.

"No, The "people" you saw coming in were mostly lychans or werewolves." She crossed her arms. "The women who bathed you too were werewolves. They are our slaves and do as we bid." I blinked back a tear at this. I felt sorry for the poor slaves.

"Why are they slaves?" I asked innocently. The entire room fell so silent, it squeezed me.

"Because, they are," she said. I shivered at her cold stare and looked around.

I never saw the man who turned me ever again.

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TA DA!! Chapter one up and ready for action! For those of you reading Diva'sDream's story, there will be instances where things are exactly the same except for thoughts and such. She's given me permission so suck it up! Lol anyway, hope you enjoy it! 


	2. Chapter 2: Friends and a Fairy Costume

I sat up and yawned, fangs retracted, waking just after sunset as always. I sat in a huge bed, gothic style with its wrote-iron bed frame and black velvet curtains, drawn back. I stretched and kicked off the black silk bed sheets and fell out of bed. _"Nice move there, Grace,"_ I thought to myself. I stood up and stumbled over to my specially made mirror and stared at my reflection. Big, bright blue eyes, pale skin and the deep blue hair that fell to my waist. I'd dyed it when I turned thirteen, set on erasing my earlier childhood. My body developed quite nicely under the vampires' care, being properly nourished and dressed comfortably. I would be turning seventeen in a few months, and boy did I look it.

I finally finished getting ready and headed down stairs. The sound of Lady Servina, the current elder awake, shrieking about Hope, a lychan and my first friend, assaulted my ears. Apparently, she'd snuck out again from the sounds of it. Their self-proclaimed alpha, Raven, gave her the location of a secret hole in the vampire's death house and a way into the city and Hope used every chance she got. Only one problem though: She seemed to get caught almost every other time. I sighed, knowing Quintzie-Fluffles, A.K.A. Quintz, was going to have a field day. Quintz was Hope's slave mistress. I turned towards the ballroom; the place Servina always sent her to clean and knowing Hope, Anora Daniels, My slave and best friend, would be with her.

I wondered through the mansion until I came to the ballroom hearing Hope asking Anora if she came just to bother her. I'd slipped in to see her throwing a rag at her friend and laughed with them, only to scare the hell out of them. They both turned like two dear caught in the headlights, while Hope also fell to the ground, making me grin. I enjoyed scaring them, seeing as it was easy for me to do so. They both sighed in relief.

"Oh my gosh Exondria!" Anora said. "You scared the crap outta us! Would you _please _quit sneaking up on us like that, for goodness' sake!" I grinned and chuckled. Anora was thin, and had thigh-long black hair tipped in the same shade of blue I had. Her crystal blue eyes were rimmed in violet, creepy because it was all natural. Hope on the other hand, had light brown hair, long and slightly messy. Her blue eyes danced with relief.

"Sorry, sorry," I teased, helping Hope to her feet. Normally Anora wouldn't speak to me so informally, but they both knew of my being pro-lychan, so didn't stop themselves as long as no one else was around. Otherwise, I'd have to punish her, and I REALLY hated having to hurt her. After she dusted herself off, I asked, "Snuck out again?"

Hope snickered and said, "Is it that obvious?"

"Only when we can hear Servina's ranting throughout the entire mansion!" I said. Everyone laughed at this, knowing it was true. The pipes on the head Vamp were AMAZING when she was ticked.

"Hey, is it my fault she's got such a big mouth?" Hope joked. The only got us started again.

"Well, no, I guess she'll just have to stick to that being her own damn fault," Anora laughed. "So, what brings you here at the moment, Exondria?" Anora asked after we finally stopped laughing.

I shrugged. "Oh nothing. I just heard the yelling and figured you two would be in here," I answered honestly. Well, they were my closest and most trusted friends. I hesitated then asked my usual question of how it looked out in the city during the day. I never had an issue seeing it at night, but to see the sun again… I could only dream.

Hope smiled. "Nothing really special," she told me. "All I did was take a walk in the city and then sit on a rooftop to watch the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful this evening, you guys. Although, as you can see, I kinda…lost track of the time." I smiled with a look of longing and envy, wanting to enjoy the sight again. Anora muttered something about it being obvious, causing Hope to stick her tongue out and send them both into giggling fits. It always amazed me how happy they stayed, even under those harsh living conditions. I always remembered how unhappy and sad I'd been when I was treated like they were by my father.

My smile dropped a bit, and I said, "Well, you still have to admit, it could've been much worse than what you got. I mean, this is, what? The third time this month you've been caught sneaking out?" It came out seriously, and I meant it to be. I was getting more and more worried, knowing my influence as Servina's favorite little girl would run thin pretty soon. Hope nodded at this.

Yeah, third. And I know, I got lucky this time around. Kurati must've made her _really_ happy again this evening," Hope said in a false, high pitched loving voice. Kurati was Servina's lover, even though everyone knew about but shouldn't and the fact Servina was married to the sleeping Vamp Elder Draven Karavalis, the next to be awoken. We laughed harder this time at the joke.

Then the voice of Jessie, a friend and vampire called out from some other room, "Exondria? Can you come here for awhile? I've got something I wanna show you!" I quickly told them goodbye, telling Hope to stay out of trouble, and walked to the Entrance Foyer. I walked in and saw her trying hard not to laugh just yet. I looked at what she pointed at and I saw a sadly hilarious picture: she had a lychan, a MALE lychan mind you, dressed up in a pink tutu, pink fairy wings and to top it off, a shiny plastic princess tiara. I slapped a hand to my face and started giggling.

"What the hell!" I said, unable to hold back a laugh. "What did you do to him?" His face grew red and he glared at Jessie while she laughed with soft brown eyes I knew shouldn't have been so hard at the moment. His chocolate hair was pulled back in a ponytail and the tiara glinted. Still… the image HILARIOUS.

"Now," Jessie said through giggles. "Do what I told you to when Exondria came in!" He mumbled something, then did something that made me literally fall to the floor from laughing: He began _prancing_ around the room, but it got better.

His face brick red, he squealed in a high-pitched voice, "I'm a pretty fairy princess! I'm a pretty fairy princess!" I grabbed my stomach because it hurt from laughing so hard. Jessie leaned up against the wall, and started tearing up she found it so funny. She finally waved her hand and gasped out "Stop! Stop!" to his obvious great relief. We finished up and stood up and caught our breath.

"I told you it was great!" she said. I shook my head and offered my arm, slipping my wallet out of my back pants' pocket with the other.

"No, you just said you wanted me to see something," I told her as she took it. I dropped it on the ground as we headed out of the room, chatting about nothing. After we passed a few doors and turned a few hallways, I faked realizing I dropped my wallet. "Go on ahead," I told her. "I'll see you later." She gave a short wave and I dashed back to the room.

BAM. I ran straight into someone coming around the second bend. I shook my head to stop the swimming sensation and saw the same slave from the other room holding his hand out to me, a worried look on his face.

"My apologies Mistress!" he said. "I hadn't meant to knock you down!" _Thaaat's how I got down here…_ I thought grasping his hand. He freaked and thought I was going to order him whipped. Yeah, like THAT was gonna happen by my hand. He helped pull me up and continued to apologies.

"Easy! Easy!" I laughed. "You've got nothing to fear from me." He stopped like I put a gag on him. His head tilted a bit and confusion crossed his face.

"You're… you're not gonna order me whipped?" he said. Yup. I guessed right. I shook my head and smiled.

"Nope!" I told him happily. I held out my hand. "I'm Exondria." He looked at me, confused beyond belief. Oops. He wasn't one of the slaves who knew I was pro-lychan. He bowed instead of shaking my hand.

"Kaden, Mistress Exondria," he said. I shook my head.

"Well Kaden," I said, mocking seriousness, "I order you to call me just Exondria when no other vampire or lychan who doesn't know about the order. You can call me that around only three people: Your alpha Raven, Hope and Anora." I play scowled and put my hands on my hips for effect. He blinked at me.

"May I speak my mind "Exondria"?" he asked. I nodded my permission. "You're psychotic." I grinned and bowed.

"Why thank you!" He smiled. FINALLY. You have no idea the stress of trying to convince someone you're not gonna kill them or have them beaten.

"Ah!" He reached into his own tattered pocket and held out my wallet. "You dropped this Miss- Exondria," he told me. I took it from his hand, feeling the warmth from it being in his pocket. I felt a pang in my chest from envy again. I smiled anyway and slipped it back into my pocket. "Next time, don't make it obvious."

"Thank you Kaden," I said.

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Here is chapter two! Sooo yeah…. ENJOY! 


	3. Chapter 3: Luck and Shopping!

It sucks I'm never able to attend any of the meetings the lychans hold. I'm never able to prove I understand their pain, their suffering. When was I going to get that chance? Probably never with my luck. Well, whatever right? I just had to keep Anora and Hope out of trouble and any other lychan I could spare.

My days began blending together shortly there after. I hadn't run into Kaden seeing as his duties always interfered any time I noticed him or there was another vampire present (usually Jessie who was his mistress). Life became same routine: Talk to Hope, give Anora random tasks to keep Servina off my trail, drink that god-awful blood, and stay alive. Not much to look at in reality.

I hadn't left the mansion in over a month at that point, a slow build-up to bringing along a few friends when I did. I was only sixteen and needed escorts right? But who would want to baby-sit a vampire who's still a child, even by human standards? Lychans can't deny their masters. I only manage this when Hope and Anora are well behaved, the longest period for this to happen being six months… Well, I can pull strings with the Head vamp every once in awhile.

I planned everything out by myself. I couldn't ever hint to either of them because their reactions had to be natural. If they weren't and Servina suspected in the least bit… There goes all our fun because she'll have us trailed. Well, I made sure not to mention I was running low on clothes that fit (I hate puberty and I hate my chest some days) and needed new shoes. My opportunity came when Servina was in a rather good mood having been distracted by her lover who made me nervous. It was exactly one month since Hope was caught.

I stepped into the library to see Servina humming something random and smiling happily. I suppressed a grin at my flash of luck. Now just to work her… I purposely wore clothes slightly too tight and shoes that weren't in the best of shape. She looked up at me entering and eyed my clothing with disdain.

"Exondria, how many times have I told you not to wear such… attire?" she scolded. Good. I have a habit of not caring what shape my clothes are in as long as I have something on. I in turn shrugged.

"They seemed descent enough to me," I answered innocently. "A lot of clothes are like this." I picked up a book absent mindedly, adding to the innocent look. Any good teenager knows how to work their guardian. She snorted a short laugh. An image of a flying pig zoomed across my head and I suppressed a giggle.

"You really should go shopping this evening then," I looked up with honest surprise. _This_ evening? That was a shocker.

"M-My lady?" I stuttered. She smiled and set down whatever she had been reading. I glanced at the title and saw only "Kam-". _Oh my God,_ I thought. _I she reading the Kama Sutra?!_ Gross. She snapped her fingers and a random lychan slave ran up at the summons.

"I want you to bring Lady Exondria some money," she ordered. The slave who had his head bowed looked up and I recognized him to be Kaden. Fancy that. He saw me and his eyes widened at seeing me. Servina raised an eyebrow.

"You have met before?" she questioned. Shiitake mushrooms on a stick. I nodded though and grinned at the memory.

"Jessie had him… perform for us," I said, trying hard not to laugh and cry at the same time. Some days my friend was too cruel.

"Ah… She had him present the lovely fairy idea to me as well." His face grew brick-red as she continued," Well, fetch her money. I also want you to accompany her and her usual escorts while she shops." I groaned inward. He bowed and mumbled his understanding.

Later that evening, Anora and Hope met me by the mansion gate. Kaden stalked behind me, not happy to be with us. It was about eleven and we had four hours to kill time. Maybe five if I pushed it. They looked at him with apprehension.

"Servina," was all I said and they sighed in understanding. Kaden wrinkled his nose. The gates opened and I lead the way, being the dominant little vampire I am. I didn't slow down and walk between Hope and Anora until we made it into the city. Kaden stalked behind like the boyfriend tagging along for the ride.

Our first and normal stop was a small boutique owned and operated by a lychan couple rumored to be apart of the rebels. This would be a bold step for any vampire, but was I any vampire? Please.

The little doorbell dinged as we walked through the door to Fredrick and Fiona's Archaic Shoppe. A woman with grayish hair stood behind a counter and glanced at us and smiled.

"Back again Misses Exondria, Anora, and Hope?" she said, her voice soft as a mother's. I loved this woman and her and her husband's shop. The clothes they sold here were centered around the dark teenager's love of horror and clothing from centuries past. All three of us grinned back while Kaden stared at the clothes in amazement.

"Yes Mrs. Fiona," we said in unison. Fiona took notice of Kaden and raised a brow, sniffing delicately.

"And who's the gentleman?" she inquired. He looked up.

"Kaden." Her eyebrows raised, but she said nothing. He wandered off while Anora, Hope, and I looked through the girl's section. Playing dress up was always fun! We tried on some of the weirdest stuff, but it looked cool. One dress caught my eye in particular: it was made of black velvet, trimmed in gold with a V neck and long bell shaped sleeves. The looked at the price and smiled. It may have took half of the spending money I had, but I wanted it. I showed Anora and Hope and they agreed.

I think poor Kaden was bored out of his mind. Why? He looked it. While we ran around shopping and having near-normal fun, he just grumbled and followed. I started to get a bit worried. What if he did rat us out? I mean, I'm not supposed to be having fun with lychans right? Right on cue, Hope gently pulled me ahead.

"Exondria, I'm a bit worried," she whispered. "What if he snitches on us? You wouldn't be in nearly as much trouble as me and Anora…" I heard the truth in that. I nodded my head.

"I'll do what I can," I whispered back. "He doesn't seem like the type who'd rat." Hope shrugged.

"I don't normally see him around much, even in the lychan quarters." I shrugged. She and I fell back in line with Anora, but I fell further behind to walk in line with Kaden. He looked at me curiously, then something dawned on his face.

"You're going to tell me not to say anything right?" he said before the words left my mouth. I grinned sheepishly.

"Basically, yeah." He smiled for the first time.

"I get the idea. I'm used to lying point blank to Mistress Jessica, so it's nothing new," Kaden explained. "You three are safe." He looked at me and I caught myself staring into his eyes. Hey, they were gorgeous! I looked away quickly, face getting slightly pink. I sped up and took the lead.

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OMG I POSTED! Yeah, not VERY exciting, but it's a filler for what's next! Gotta trust the writer right? Well, Exondria's definitely experiencing the joy of hormones if she thinks a lychan's cute. Well, until next time! Tchao! 


	4. Chapter 4: Vamp Plus Sun Means No Fun

Jessie was furious. She didn't like the idea of _her_ slave accompanying three females, one a vampire or not, out to go shopping. If I didn't know any better, I think I could smell jealousy from the blonde. As we walked through the gate, her green eyes flashed dangerously towards Kaden.

"And just who," she snarled, "gave _you_ permission to be outside of the gate?" She glared then at me. I returned her glare with a cool indifference.

"I—" He started, but she cut him off.

"I don't care if the headmistress herself gave you permission to leave!! You are _my_ slave and you do as _I_ tell you!!" she shrieked. Kaden closed his mouth and bowed his head to Jessie, broken and weak. It hurt to see him like that, it hurt to see anyone like that.

A dark shadow fell over the short vampire and a soft "ahem" came from the figure. Servina. Jessie turned and stared fearfully up at the Head of the coven even shook a bit. She just challenged Servina's authority by saying what she did. I don't think I'd ever seen her this angry at a vampire before.

"Well," she smoothly said, "If it's such a problem when _I_ order a slave to do something, perhaps you should become the Elder and I just a simple nobody… Like you." She stepped towards Jessie who tried to step back, but tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground. She skittered back against the fencing, staring fearfully at the Elder Vampire who followed her and glared down.

I motioned my hand towards the others, pointing at the mansion. Servina looked at me as I took a step towards the point of "safety" and nodded the ok. The four of us hurriedly walked inside and shut the door. We all started towards the stairs leading to my room, but Hope stopped and set the bag she'd been carrying down and pressed her ear to the front door. Servina was shrieking and she wanted to eavesdrop. Anora sighed and mimicked her to my great dislike. Sure I enjoyed eavesdropping as much as any teenager, but this was super risky if we got caught. Instead of doing the same, I walked up and grabbed the bags they'd set down.

"I ask- told you two to bring me pasta," I said. They looked at me and nodded their understanding of the cover story. I spun and walked to the stairwell, Kaden following close behind.

* * *

Two hours left to kill and what could I do? _Read. I could always read…_ I thought to myself. I skipped down to the library and about thirty minutes into that and I was bored. Now what? 

The Garden. I hadn't walked in there in awhile. I was sure not much had changed, but it was beautiful. Many of the flowers in there were night bloomers and the closest I'd get to the sun… I mean, they all needed sunlight still to grow right? So I decided on a simple walk in the Garden. It's not like I planned to stay until the sun rose (less I had a death wish which I didn't).

When I walked outside, most vampires were settling down for the day and some lychans as well. Very few were even out and about as it were. I walked pass the pathway leading to the lychan's quarters, just outside the growth covered garden gates. I opened the black wrote Iron Gate and stepped into a world of exotic beauty. Flowers were in full bloom and their heavy scent swirled around the air. There was rumor among the vampires some of these flowers were mix breeds that were specially designed to please the vampire nose. Well, it sure smelled like a correct rumor!

My usually quick pace slowed to a near crawl as I admired the flowers. They were so delicate looking… But they fought the elements, fought the ever-pressuring cloak of death from smothering their beauty. I envied these flowers. Their life was simple: please the gardeners who grew them. My life was no where near like it: I had to hide my pain for the lychans and treat them somewhat cruelly if I were to survive. That and avoid the sun and feed on the blood of others. I sighed deeply and looked at the sky. I needed to sit in my usual place.

I wound through the path to a spot I claimed as mine. It was a little white bench under a giant, healthy apple tree with rose bushes around it. Unlike a normal person, I used that bench to scramble up on the lowest tree branch and up just a bit further in the tree. I relaxed against the trunk, starring at the hundreds of thousands of pin-prick stars in the sky.

I don't know for how I long I sat there, but the second I saw the blue reach a shade about three times lighter than it should and the stars disappeared, I panicked. _SUNRISE._ I jumped down the tree and tore through the Gardens. I was thankful for my vampire speed at that point. I saw a faint shade of pink. _I'M GOING TO DIE!_ I screamed in my mind.

Bursting through the gate, I skidded to a halt in front of the lychan's quarters. Why? Because It was the closest shelter. I tried to open the door to find it locked. Locked?! Why the hell was the slave's quarters locked?! I banged on the door.

"ANORA! HOPE! OPEN UP! PLEASE!" I yelled. I kept banging on the door until A sleepy Anora opened it up. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw it was me.

"Exondria, why're you here!" she cried, forgetting formality. She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the nearest bedroom. She banged open the door and yanked me to the nearest cot. She lifted the covers and saw there was just enough room for me to hide under.

"Just get in here until we can get the window covered!" She didn't need to tell me twice. I slid under there and she covered the side facing the sunlit window with a blanket. She then came around to the other side to check on me by lifting up the cover on that side.

"Thank you!" I breathed, a few tears leaking out. She nodded her head and ran out of the room. I gasped for air, coughing and choking from the lack of it. I kept myself from sobbing and managed to regulate my breathing. A few minutes later I got the biggest shock of my life. Someone lifted the blanket on the darker side and looked at me.

"M-mistress Exondria?" Kaden stuttered, a look of bewilderment on his face. "What are you doing under there…?" I stared at him and then it dawned on me. _Anora stuck me on the male slaves' side! _

"I… It's a long story…" I said. "Actually, it's just stupid really."

* * *

Anora explained that the men's quarters was closer than the women's and Kaden's room was the first one when you walked in. They found some thick curtains they put up to block out the sunlight and found a few extra candles. After making sure I was ok and in no more shock, Anora left me to stay in his room. 

Wonderful. I leaned against a wall for now, uncomfortable with the idea of sitting or laying down on someone else's bed, especially a guys. I guess him being a lychan played a part, but only in the sense that if the other vampires found out, things could get a bit hairy. Kaden was still there, untrusting of me being in his room. For a good long time he just sat on his bed and studied me.

"You _can_ sit on my bed you know," he said making me jump. We'd been silent for awhile at that point. "I'll stand for you."

"No, I'm good," I tried to tell him, waving my hand to keep Kaden sitting down. The lychan stood up anyway and offered me the spot. I opened my mouth to say something, closed it, and then sat down anyway. I'll admit my sleepiness since the last time I slept was the day before. He leaned against the wall where I stood before, silent again.

"Why aren't you like the other vampires?" The question caught me off guard. I looked up at him.

"Because what they've done to your people is wrong," I answered, looking away.

"And that's enough reason to try and "protect us"?" he asked. He didn't believe me… I looked at him dead in the eye. Into those dark brown, ice-cold eyes.

"Yes." He looked into mine and his eyes softened. He looked away and walked to the door.

"Seeing as you're stuck in here, would you like something?" he asked a little nicer. My stomach rumbled on cue. I nodded.

"Pasta would be nice," I yawned. He paused for a second and looked at me as if we'd just met, the hurried out of the room.

* * *

Few minutes later I leaned against the wall slurping up spaghetti and a mug of blood he grabbed for me. Kaden grabbed an apple before bringing my dish and munched on that. 

Dead silence filled the room. It was rather awkward. Anora slept during the morning and Hope went off and did her rebel-against-the-no-leaving-the-mansion thing most of the time. This left me and Kaden with nothing to do in his room. Personally I wanted to just talk to him about stuff, but every time I opened my mouth words would jam up in my throat. It usually happened when he looked at me and confused my brain when I tried to figure out why.

Looking around, I found the room rather plain. The walls were a creamy color from age, a small window now covered in thick black velvet curtains that would come down the second the sun did. His bed, one of two, looked old and moth-eaten. He probably shared the room with another lychan, but he more than likely was murdered by the vampires of this house. That or he just received this room and didn't have to share because he was hire on the pack ladder than the others. The carpet on the floor turned brown from age too, thin and useless really.

He shifted and my eyes snapped back to him. He moved over to where I was and looked straight in my eyes. If I had a blood flow, my face would be crimson... He leaned closer until he was inches from my face…

Then he poked me in the forehead.

"Get some sleep," was all he said and pointed to the extra bed.

* * *

Author: HAHAHAHAHA! Ya'll thought he was gonna kiss her!! Yeah, a biiiit early for th-- (gets mouth covered) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that! Wonder what Hope and Anora heard…? Only time will tell. 


	5. Chapter 5: Finally, We Get The Truth!

I woke up groaning with my head throbbing in pain. I didn't want to open my eyes, afraid the throbbing would get worse. Instead, I reached my hand to touch the crown of my head lightly, the massive source of the throbbing. Sparks of pain shot out from the area and I cried out from the pain. My sense of smell was assaulted by the odd coppery smell of what I knew had to be my blood. The next scent followed by that was of a lychan who rustled at the edge of my bed and moved closer.

"Exondria?" I heard a masculine voice whisper. My thoughts couldn't place the man's voice, but I knew it. I mumbled something about my head and I heard a huge sigh of relief. "I'll get Anora up. She needed the rest and I took over for her. I'll explain later." Anora…? I knew that name… Images of two girls laughing with me and playing dress-up in a gothic renaissance shop flitted through my mind.

I heard my curtains shift slightly and the sound of a muffled conversation that increased in urgency. I heard my curtains being drawn back and felt the strong scented hand of a lychan female, another familiar one, gently touch my face. I cracked my eyes open a little bit and a girl with blue and black hair came into view. Behind her I saw what had to have been the lychan man whose voice I recognized. His rich brown eyes were full of concern as was his handsomely dark face. His hair was pulled slightly back in a pony tail and I couldn't help by think, Da-a-amn he's hott!

"Hey…" I muttered to the girl I guessed to be Anora. "Who's the cute one…?" Her eyes widened as she looked back at the man whose face turned red as a tomato.

"I'll get the IV going with a bit more," the-girl-who-had-to-be-Anora said. I giggled like a schoolgirl when man sat on the bed next to me. He brushed some hair off of my cheek and sighed.

"Do you know who I am, Exondria?" he asked quietly, seriously. I went to shake my head only to have spots appear in front of my vision from the sudden pain. I whimpered and gripped his hand, forcing my eyes closed to stop the room from spinning. I heard him get up and I felt his warm lips kissing my forehead. I smiled and started to giggle again.

From what seemed far off, I heard a voice say, "She'll fall asleep with this large a dose, so you may want to watch her." Suddenly, I felt light. Lighter than I'd ever been before, it was like floating in sky on a gentle breeze.

Then I was out faster than you could say, "Holy crap Batman!"

…………

"I said WHAT?!" I cried out in shock. After they pumped enough blood into me to feed a house of vampire orphans, I regained consciousness and most of my memory. After I consumed a nice bloody steak (Hey, I needed my protein!), Anora and Hope kindly informed me what I said about Kaden. My usually pale and bloodless face glowed like a welcome sign with the previously ingested blood.

"Yeah, and he's been avoiding us like the plague since then," Hope said. "He insisted on watching over you after Jessie attacked you with that cast iron skillet." My fork clattered on my plate as I stood up, pushing the table-stand-thing away from me.

"Jessie did this?!" I said in disbelief. "What the hell?! Why?!" The lychans shrugged. Good God… I was betrayed by my best vampire friend? "But… Why? What happened to her?" The questions went unanswered.

"We know Kaden knows why, but he fed the Servina another story," Anora told me.

"I wanna talk to him," I stated, setting my fork properly on the plate to indicate I was finished. Lying down for nearly a full day wasn't exactly fun. "Where is he?" Anora and Hope looked at each other.

"Well, he may be in his room in the slave house for once," Hope said.

Anora fixed her top and said, "Apparently, Jessie had him in her room which is why he was rarely in the lychan quarters." I twitched involuntarily and stood. I didn't look the best even though Anora and Hope helped me change earlier, but I still felt the need to talk to Kaden about what happened. I still couldn't remember what happened exactly when Jessie apparently hit me with the skillet. I brushed my strange blue hair out a bit to make it semi-decent and walked to the door of my room. Hope and Anora stood up to follow.

"Annie, go and have fun with Hope, ok?" I said, opening it. I took a step forward and ran right into someone with rock hard chest. "F'ing Jesus Christ on a goddamned stick!" I yelled. "Can I NOT run into things or be hit by them?!" I looked up to see a gentleman vampire with pale blue eyes and hair a lighter shade of blue than mine. My scowl instantly turned into a grin.

"Fayt!" I cried, hugging my adoptive brother. "How are you?" The taller vamp laughed and hugged me back with just as much enthusiasm.

"I'm wonderful and glad to see you up and kicking. Nice language by the way," he teased, poking my nose. He looked into my room and saw Anora and Hope standing there, completely shocked and mouths hanging open. They knew if it'd been anyone else that situation would have been difficult to squirm out of. Hugging me again, he whispered in my ear, "Mind if I borrow Anora for a bit?" I nodded my approval and he stood up.

"Miss Hope? Max requested your help to help clean up the ballroom. He apparently got stuck with your punishment. Seems they want that room spotless for the ceremony," he said to the young lychan. The both of them jumped up and started out, but Fayt put a hand on Anora's shoulder. Hope and I giggled as he said, "I need your help though, Miss Anora…" The understanding that passed between the two may have seemed harmless, but I knew its meaning all too well.

"I'll just be going then," I said, gliding down the stairs and away from the rooms. I attracted a bit more attention than I intended, probably from my little incident with Jessie. I still wanted to know what happened to her and for that matter why she kept Kaden in her room. The sleepy memory of him kissing my forehead sent a shiver down my spine. He'd been in my rooms during the day to watch over me. I paused in the doorway leading to the lychans' quarters. Was that why she'd try to kill me? Was Jessie jealous that Kaden was getting attention from me?

I rubbed my eyes instead of my usual shake-my-head-like-I'm-a-dog thing. I didn't want to start another throbbing headache. I was sure I'd consumed enough blood to have healed over and prevent that, but my worry got the better of me. I slid out the door quietly and headed over to the lychan's quarters again. I must've been out for a full night; the bushes were trimmed back a bit more than their usual slightly overgrown look and they weren't that when I'd been out last. I gently dragged my fingers over the leaves, letting the sharp edges of the freshly cut plant life prick my fingers. I'll admit the few bonuses to being a vampire was the sensory perception sharper than that of any human.

I paused in front of the doorway to the lychan's quarters and just stood there looking a little nervous. I mean, how was I going to explain my sudden and random arrival at their "home"? My hand reached up to turn the handle, but froze just as I touched it. What if he didn't want to speak to me? Sure, I could force him as a vampire, but I couldn't bare the thought…

Whoa! Slow yourself down! You really don't even know the guy! I thought.

Yeah, you don't really know the dark, mysterious, sexy, apparently-really-sweet guy… I challenged myself.

Touché… The other side thought.

I looked up at the sky and smiled a bit to myself, wondering if those curtains were still around…. In about an hour, the sun would start to rise. I pushed open the door and walked in. Instantly, a few lychans turned and stared at me as if I were a demon child and needed to be feared. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Artemis, one of the only slaves who knew of my treacherous intentions against the other vampires, walking up to me. In her arms, she held her adorable baby Leo who lay curled up in his mother's arms.

"Mistress Exondria?" she said shifting Leo. A few of the lychans around were shocked even more by the friendliness of her tone and how open she was being with Leo by the looks on their faces. "What're you doing here??" I smiled at little Leo and then looked up at her.

"Well, I need to speak to Kaden," I said. Her eyebrows creased with a little confusion. "It's about something that happened earlier."

"He's in his room," she said quietly and nodded down the male's side. She turned and walked away, leaving me no choice now but to head over to him. I recalled the steps Anora and I took the other day to get to his room, stopping just short of his door. I knocked softly and opened it, nerves preventing any common sense kicking in. Stepping in, I quickly shut the door behind me and looked at his bed. He must've sat bolt right up and stared at me with sleepy eyes because he was sitting up. Well duh!

"Exondria," he said, his voice slightly gruff from being asleep moments ago. The sound made my knees weak again.

"H-hi, Kaden…" I whispered. Stepping forward, I continued, "Um… I wanted… to talk to you about um… what… happened…" I paused a little ways away from him as he swung his legs around his bed and stood up. Oh God… He was shirtless! I knew my face turned only slightly pink from the steak I'd finished up a bit ago.

"What about it?" he asked, rubbing his face. I glanced down at his chest and saw thin, light scars littering his body. On closer inspection, I realized some were only a couple days old… My mouth fell open.

"Kaden! Where the hell did you get these?!" I said, standing on the balls of my feet to look at them more closely. "These aren't lashes from whips! They're--!"

He pushed passed me and muttered, "Yeah, they're knife marks." He stalked over to the window and pulled back the thick curtains that were still hung there. He glanced out and sighed. "You may want to hurry back into the main house. It'll be dawn soon…" He let them fall and leaned against the wall sighing again.

"Did… was it…" I stumbled, unsure of how to ask my question. His brown eyes flicked back up at me, this time icy brown like before. "Did Jessie-"

"Yes."

I sighed and hugged myself and sat on the edge of his bed, facing him. "Look," I said, "I wanted to come in here to talk about what happened the other knight. My memory is still shot from what happened…" He shrugged and stood up again, wondering aimlessly around his room.

"You came back to thank me for "letting you stay when the sun was out" again and you ended up talking to me about a lot more stuff and Jessie followed you…" He shivered slightly. "She's… protective…" I stood up automatically, walked a few steps and hugged him. He sharply into a breath, unsure of what to do, then just leaned against the wall, pulling me close to him in the hug. My breath caught from the joy of being this close to him and I snuggled up to him, resting my hands on his bare chest. I gently traced the scares an freshly healing wounds.

"Exondria…" he muttered, nuzzling my hair. "We'll get into trouble… Besides, we barely even know each other! I'm mean sure we talked a lot this past week..." A warning bell went off. Past week? I thought I'd only been out a day! That meant I was missing a full WEEK of memory... My thoughts were put on hold as he tilted my chin up and looked at me much softer than before.

"Then why aren't you stopping it?" I whispered. He bit his bottom lip until it bled. My nostrils flared at the delicious scent of warm, fresh blood. My self-restraint nearly broke when he leaned closer.

"Let's just say…" he whispered back, "I know I don't have much time…" I paused for a second, but at that point his lips met my own in my first ever kiss. Of course, that's not all I got when his blood met my tongue...

…………

Author: I KNOW it was short, but I wanted to post at least SOMETHING! T.T Well, I hope it was ok! Hm… Wonder what happened to Jessie, eh? And I wonder what happened between her and Kaden that week…


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